Search results
9 lip 2024 · Monotremes have relatively low metabolic rates (compared to other mammals) and an average body temperature of about 31 °C (88 °F). Research suggests this could be an adaptive strategy for inhabiting the harsh and marginal niches they inhabit.
1 sie 2017 · Five species of monotremes exist, including four species of echidnas and the duck-billed platypus.
28 mar 2022 · Creatures great and small: Origins of monotremes revealed. Monotremes are iconic Australasian species. But the origins of these species have continually raised questions for scientists; why aren’t they more present in the fossil record and why can we only find them in Australia and New Guinea?
Monotreme, any member of the egg-laying mammalian order Monotremata, which includes the amphibious platypus and the terrestrial echidnas of continental Australia, the Australian island state of Tasmania, and the island of New Guinea. It is the most ancient living order of mammals.
Monotremes are the sole living representatives of the mammalian Subclass Prototheria (1). Living monotremes have traditionally been viewed as the descendants of pre-tribosphenic mammalian ancestors that lacked the distinctive tribosphenic molar that is capable of both shearing and grinding functions.
The only surviving examples of monotremes are all indigenous to Australia and New Guinea although there is evidence that they were once more widespread, as Monotrematum is known from the Paleocene of South America. The extant monotreme species are the platypus and four species of echidnas.
Monotremes are furred like mammals and produce milk for their young, yet they reproduce by laying eggs. The five extant monotremes -- the duck-billed platypus (Ornithorynchus anatinus) and four species of echidnas (Tachyglossidae) -- live in New Guinea and Australia.
